Court: Charles Manson's grandson can collect cult leader's body

by The Associated Press

FILE - In this 1969 file photo, Charles Manson is escorted to his arraignment on conspiracy-murder charges in connection with the Sharon Tate murder case. A Los Angeles judge on Friday, Jan. 26, 2018, will hear arguments on what county should decide who gets the remains of cult leader Manson who orchestrated the 1969 killings of pregnant actress Tate and eight others. Three camps with alleged ties to Manson, who died in Nov. 2017, claim they want to properly bury or dispose of Manson's ashes, though they allege others want to profit off the remains. (AP Photo, File)

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP) -- A grandson of cult leader Charles Manson has won the bizarre California court battle for the killer's corpse.

A Kern County Superior Court commissioner ruled Monday that Jason Freeman of Florida can collect the remains of Manson from the morgue in Bakersfield.

Manson's body has been on ice since he died in November in a Bakersfield hospital. He had been serving a life prison sentence for orchestrating the 1969 killings of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and eight others.

The fight for Manson's remains was waged between Freeman, a man who claims he was fathered by Manson before his followers carried out the heinous slayings, and a pen pal who collects so-called Manson memorabilia.

The dispute over the body foreshadows a similar fight over his estate in a Los Angeles courtroom.